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I met his eyes and told him exactly what was said. “I made a promise to her, and I kept it. Nobody will say something like that about my girl without consequences.”
Frankie stared at me for a long moment. “Do you regret bringing her into this?” he asked.
“Every damn day,” I admitted. “But it was necessary, and we got information.”
“We’ll back off of having her seek out more intel, but if we need to use her again, she’s our only way inside, and we’ll use that avenue. I’m holding off on a more direct approach because of what she means to you, but it’s not off the table entirely. Not yet.” I nodded, knowing I wouldn’t break his position on this situation. I knew where he stood. She would rank at the top of his priorities, but never above me or my other brothers.
We sat in silence for a few moments before I spoke again. “You’re not pissed that I acted out?” I asked.
He met my eyes and raised a brow. “I’m not Dad. We work as a team now, and I won’t pull rank on you unless I have to.” The words reminded me of the reason I’d decided to stay. “Shit, Carlo. Do you remember why you do this job—the reason you took the duties from me in the first place?” I nodded, but he continued. “I was leaving too much carnage behind. And three-quarters of it is because guys tried to talk shit about Bella. Until they learn where to draw a line, I say kill all the fuckers who hurt our girls.”
I had never understood his relationship with Bella, mostly because I couldn’t fathom him being interested in such an air-headed woman like her. But as I looked at him now, I could finally see where that quick temper came from, and I understood it. “Sierra is a part of this family now,” he continued, “and I’d kill anyone who talked shit about her, too. I expect you to do the same.”
“I will,” I promised, and Frankie nodded. I always felt like Frankie and I were the exact opposites. From childhood, we’d been the opposite sides of the same coin, but I was finally seeing the similarities. We’d protect what was ours, and we wouldn’t let anything stand between that protection. Maybe years of Dad’s personalized hellscape had instilled that protective nature in all of us. We sure as hell had never been able to protect ourselves, but we could protect each other and the ones we cared for most.
26
SIERRA
I carried one of Carlo’s pullovers through the Bonanno house, looking around and hoping he’d be here. He usually had a lot of work to take care of during the day, and as I strode into his empty bedroom, I recalled him mentioning a meeting he had today, and I paused, tossing the shirt on his bed and walking back through the house.
“Nobody invited you,” a voice said from the second-story sitting area. I paused, taking a few steps until I could see the entire room. My gaze first caught on where Carlo and I had been intimate, and my heart had a minor palpitation before I met Louis’s gaze.
“I had to drop something off for Carlo,” I said. “I’ll be on my way.” I turned as if to leave.
“Wait,” he said, and I paused. “I’d like to have a few words with you.”
I exhaled deeply. “I really have to get to work…”
“In a minute.” He stood, and I stiffened as he strode toward me leisurely. I wouldn’t have put it past him to reach forward and snap my neck after all the hatred he’d thrown my way over the past few months. “You need to understand something. My brothers and I have never had anyone other than ourselves. The only reason we all survived childhood was because of one another. Our dad was…” He paused, but I heard the unspoken words. Their father had been a monster, and he’d left a mark on all of them. “Our dad made sure we needed each other, and that’s not going to change. You can fuck Carlo and be friends with Tommy. You can be civil with Frankie, but if anything happens and you become a threat, none of us would hesitate to take you out.”
I shook my head. “If I was a threat to any of you, I would expect nothing less.” His eyes flashed surprise for a moment. “Louis, I have a brother, too. I’d do anything for him, and that includes giving my life for him.”
“You’re not one of us,” he said. “We’re going to put each other first.”
“Good. You need to be there for each other.” Once again, surprise flashed there. “I’m not going to bother you by staying here. I know you don’t trust me, and I can understand the reason. I’ve done nothing to earn your trust yet, Louis, but I’m doing everything I can to make sure you and your brothers stay safe. You have my word on that.”
I never thought I’d see Louis appear speechless, but he opened his mouth and closed it, brows furrowing for a moment. “You’re putting Carlo in a dangerous position. He doesn't have the time or the ability to protect you all the time.”
“I never asked him to,” I retorted. “If there’s one thing I can promise, it’s that I’ll never wittingly put him in danger. I care about him, too.”
“Being here puts him in danger.”
I bent my head sideways. “I’m here to help get you all out of danger.” He had nothing to say to that. I wondered if he’d given Bella a similar talk when she’d come around. Clearly it had done nothing to sway her or mend their relationship.
“That’s the only reason I didn’t end your life and throw you into the bay,” he said, and the seriousness of his tone chilled me. I had a feeling Louis would’ve done just that if I would’ve made a misstep, and that realization had me taking a small step away from him. “Thank you for trying to help us.”
The ‘thank you’ shook me more than the death threat in the sentence beforehand. I hadn’t expected it from him. In my shock, I could only gape and nod slowly. Maybe I was beginning to make a bit of headway with Louis after all. His grumpy demeanor and chiding attitude hadn’t changed, but I’d faced far fewer insults in this conversation than the last few we’d had.
“You don’t have to thank me for doing something I want to do,” I told him, running a tongue over my teeth and taking another step back. “But I do need to return to work.”
He nodded, and as I finally turned and began walking away, he said one last thing. “As long as you’re with my brother, if you need help, you can call me.” I looked at his stern face and nodded. “I won’t fucking like it, but I’ll be there.”
Thatsounded more like the man I knew.
* * *
Adam hadto leave for an appointment, and as I finished painting the stairwell in the Lucchese mansion, I was conscious of every person who came in and out of the house. Virgil hadn’t said or done more than issue a few orders to me for nearly two weeks, and I knew that as long as I deflected his attention, I’d be in the clear. But I also hadn’t been alone for two weeks.
